April 2026 – Globalities

I’ve moved to Substack!

Helena CobbanApril 27, 2026April 27, 2026About Globalities

Hi! This is just a notice that, starting in early March, I’ve been doing nearly all my writing over at Substack. The analytical essays that I’ve been publishing since January 2023 here at Globalities, I am now publishing– along with a few shorter pieces– over at my personal Substack, which is here. The corporate-ish, Just World Educational, newsletters that I’ve been sending out via Mailchimp for the past few years, I am now publishing at Just World Ed’s Substack, here.

Both these Substack platforms are free for readers as of now. Enjoy!

Pakistan’s key diplomatic roles in the Iran crisis

Helena CobbanApril 6, 2026April 20, 2026Diplomacy, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia

There is still quite some confusion about the diplomatic role that Pakistan is playing in the ongoing U.S.-Israeli War on Iran.

As is quite clear by now, Trump’s pronouncements regarding the war are bombastic and often contradictory. But every few days he and his handlers try to pursue what they clearly think of as a “smart” psy-ops move, namely to say that they’re “in productive discussions” with Tehran, or something similar. They imply these “negotiations”, conducted through Pakistan, might even be near complete success.

But time after time after time, the Iranians reiterate: “No we are not in negotiations with Washington. At this point we have zero interest in such negotiations.”

The China-Pakistan alliance reeling in GCC states (and others) to end the war on Iran

Helena CobbanApril 3, 2026April 20, 2026China, Diplomacy, Iran, Saudi Arabia

This has been a big week in geopolitics. On Tuesday (March 31), the Pakistani and Chinese foreign ministers jointly announced, in Beijing, a “5-point initiative” to end the Israeli-U.S. War on Iran. (PDF of the text is here.) In preparing that text, the two ministers had consulted closely with their counterparts in three Muslim-majority countries: Egypt, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia. Those three governments speedily expressed their support for it. (Just four days earlier, Pres. Trump had publicly and crudely insulted Saudi Arabia’s effective ruler, Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, MBS, at a big investment conference in Miami that had been financed by Saudi Arabia.)